


Pixel

by i_cant_believe_its_not_bi



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Background Harry/Ginny, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Invasion of Privacy, M/M, Mild Cursing, Secret Crush, background Ron/Hermione - Freeform, everybody is basically a background character except james and teddy, flatmates, vlogging - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-04-20 22:35:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14270988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_cant_believe_its_not_bi/pseuds/i_cant_believe_its_not_bi
Summary: Teddy finds a mysterious camera laying around his and James's new flat while unpacking.





	Pixel

Teddy collapses onto the thick rug he’d just unpacked, surrounded by a dozen more boxes with his or James’s names hastily written on each of them. James and Teddy had wanted to move in together since they were kids. James had finally graduated Hogwarts and found a steady job in professional Quidditch, and Teddy just started training to become a professor, so they found themselves a fancy 2-bedroom flat in the middle of London. Teddy would be lying if he said his Godfather hadn’t helped them pay for their first year’s rent.

“Think it’s time for a break…” Teddy mutters as he pulls his laptop out of the backpack sat next to him.

Before he could even open the device, a flash of bright blue catches his eye. Teddy leans over and curiously picks up the small, blue, digital camera resting on top of one of the boxes labeled ‘James’.

“Who are you?” Teddy runs his fingers over the bumps and scratches across the camera’s surface before flipping it over and pressing the on button. Even if it does belong to James, it wouldn’t hurt to look - his new flatmate would be away at Quidditch practice for another hour or so. His finger hovers over the library button before he shakes his head and sets the camera down. It’s an invasion of privacy...what if it’s nudes or something? Teddy pretends to cringe with disgust at the idea, even though he’s completely alone in the new flat.

So, Teddy opens his laptop, powers it on…and after contemplating it for a few seconds, plugs the camera in, opens the file, and clicks on the first video that appears. Jamie didn’t have to know.

The first thing that appears on the screen is a slightly younger version of James, wearing his Hogwarts uniform and sitting at the edge of the bed. Teddy grins at the view as James stares at the camera awkwardly, shuffling his hand through his slightly messy hair.

_“So…” James stuttered and scratched his head in thought, “I’ve managed to pull an all-nighter the night before leaving for Hogwarts, like the smart person I am.”_

Teddy snorted. This must have been just before James’s sixth year - Teddy remembers dropping a half-asleep James off at the platform.

_“Anyways, I spent the entire night binge-watching YouTube videos of Muggles - or presumably Muggles, who knows how much they’re hiding - they were just...walking around with cameras in their hands and living their lives. They called it ‘vlogging’._

_“This one YouTuber I watched near the end of my endeavors really inspired me to do this kind of thing, she…she said without her vlogs she wouldn’t be able to, y’know, remember things? As well? That’s a botched explanation but it’s good enough I guess.” James sighed and pressed his lips together, exhaustion obviously starting to override his excitement for this vlog._

_“So, I decided, right when the sun was coming up, that I’d pull out this old camera I stole from Grandpa a few years ago and record my own memories.” He smiled weakly at the camera and gripped what looked like some pastel pink fabric. The camera shifted so slightly that James was now perched on the edge of the screen. James seemed to notice; his smile disappeared and his eyebrows furrowed. He pulled out his wand and muttered a spell, and the camera focused back on him._

_His eyes hovered from the camera to the wand, and back again...before stashing his wand away. “O-of course, I can’t post my life on YouTube without being thrown in Azkaban, so this will just serve as some type of diary I guess.” James nonchalantly shrugged and pulled an oversized, pink hoodie on over his uniform. The hoodie mussed up his hair even more but James didn’t even bother fixing it - he only ran his fingers over his eyebrows to make sure they were in order. “I think it’d be funny to watch through all my old thoughts and feelings.”_

_At that moment, a knock sounded at the door next to James. He automatically whipped his wand back out and called ‘Accio’ before the door opens to presumably reveal his mother, as Ginny’s voice is the last thing heard before the video cuts off._

Teddy’s left smiling dumbly at his laptop screen and absentmindedly stroking his thumb over the scratched, bright blue camera. A loud buzz sounds through the flat, breaking Teddy out of his little trance. Quickly, Teddy unplugs the camera, closes his laptop, and makes sure the camera is turned off and replaced on top of the box. He gets up and clicks the buzzer on the wall by the door, “Hello?”

“Hi! Teddy! Yes, erm, I am an idiot…” James’s voice rings through the apartment.

Teddy fakes an annoyed sigh before clicking the button that lets James into the building. He flicks his wand and unlocks the door to the flat while walking quickly to the camera, wrapping the cord around it and stashing it in a box labeled with his name. Hopefully, James won’t be missing that camera for a few days.

***

“James, I saw you sneaking around Arthur’s workshop when I arrived earlier - you trying to steal yourself a radio?” Ron raises his eyebrows suspiciously. Teddy pokes at his food with his fork, pretending he isn't so interested in the conversation happening around him.

Almost all of the Weasley family are gathered around the Burrow's huge dinner table for their weekly Sunday dinners - many were still stuck at Hogwarts for the rest of the year.

Hermione scoffs next to Ron and elbows his arm, “Don’t act like you didn’t do the same when you were his age.”

Arthur sets his cup down and leans over the table towards James, “You know, James, you could’ve just _asked_ and I would’ve gladly given you one.”

“I-I like the sense of adventure, Grandpa…” James stutters, a guilty flush already formed on his cheeks.

Teddy’s chest tightens at the obvious lie coming from James. He was looking for something - perhaps something he’d already stolen from Arthur years ago.

Teddy is, in fact, keeping that same bright blue camera shrunken in the pocket of his skinny jeans - where it’s been for the past two days, except when he puts it in his bedside table drawer at night. He’d barely given himself any chances to even _think_ about plugging the camera back into his laptop and watching the rest of the videos.

And now James had noticed it was missing…

“So, Teddy, James...how’s the new flat? And the new flat _mate_?” Fred's voice rang out, interrupting Teddy’s train of thought.

Teddy’s eyes meet James’s blue gaze with an amused smile, “He’s okay, I guess…. Barely there enough to interact with me.”

“Oi! I’ve got things to do,” James replies with fake offense, a hand brought up to cradle his chest. With his eyes still burning on Teddy, a mischievous glint crosses James’s eyes, “ _My_ flatmate keeps waking up _after_ I leave for Quidditch practice. Doesn’t give me the chance to give him my famous breakfast fresh.”

Teddy could feel his face start to warm as he moves his gaze to his half-full dinner plate, “And who says I don’t eat the food you leave under the Stasis charm for me?”

“Aw, Jamie, you want to be there so he could praise your cooking,” Victoire teases from behind her wine glass.

Teddy snaps his eyes back to James, whose gaze was now directly at his empty dinner plate, and whose face was bright red. “Fine. I’ll wake up early tomorrow morning,” Teddy stutters out. James starts and looks at Teddy with his eyebrows furrowed and his face still flushed, “But don’t expect the praising part.”

“Well, everybody knows the Stasis charm gives food a strange little aftertaste my dear, you never know,” Molly mutters from the far side of the table.

Both James and Teddy give Molly a glare.

***

_James was sitting on his bed once again, the summer before his last year at Hogwarts, “Hi? Hello? Erm, I never know if I should introduce myself every time or something, since I’m likely to be the only person to watch these._

_“Ok, so I’ve been watching more YouTube…” James holds out his hand as if to stop something, his eyes narrowing, “Don’t judge.” Suddenly, he looked behind the camera with furrowed brows and shook his head, “Who am I talking to?! Anyways, I’ve been watching more YouTube and I found some instructional videos on how to be an interesting vlogger. I thought, ‘I might need this.’ I’m sure whoever’s watching this has been bored out of their MIND so far._ ”

Teddy blinks. He’s sitting on his bed in his dark room. It’s been almost 5 hours since he shut himself away and watched as many of James’s vlogs as he could. He’d already made it through an entire year’s worth.

Before that night, Teddy told himself he would never watch the rest of James’s videos. He told himself he would find a way to sneak it back into James’s stuff before he realized it was gone. But, now James noticed its absence, and the excessive blushing during the Weasley dinner didn’t help with Teddy’s curiosity.

He had to admit, he still felt extremely guilty about watching the videos. But once he started watching them, he couldn’t stop. Teddy had always loved listening to James tell his stories, but it never seemed to be enough. He couldn’t stare at James the way he wanted to - he’d always been forced to shove his feelings below the surface and pretend the only love he felt for James was platonic.

Now he had hundreds of videos of just James telling stories. Videos of James staring happily into the camera, ranting about his passions and emotions, completely unfiltered.

_“So this internet person told me that jump cuts make things more exciting! I thought, perfect! I’ll do that!” James pointed his wand at the camera casually, “One problem…” The git paused for dramatic effect, then dropped his wand, “I don’t edit these videos. They all stay on this SIM card, meaning I can’t cut clips out like the famous vloggers do._

_“But, while I was sitting here on this very bed sulking about this very fact, I came up with the most obvious solution!” Suddenly, James disappeared from the frame with a loud crack, then appeared a second later half a meter to the left of where he was sitting, now standing, “I passed my Apparation test last week!” James practically jumped with excitement and immediately cracked away again, this time appearing closer to the camera, bent over to look at it straight on._

_“Pretty loud, though.” He shrugged. Suddenly, a shrill alarm sounds over the speakers and James is knocked back onto his bed with wide eyes. The voice belonging to a very angry Harry Potter could barely be heard over the alarm, yelling his son’s name._

_“Shit, the wards! I forgot about the fucking wards!”_

_The alarm finally stopped and James visibly relaxed, until a set of heavy footsteps ascending to James’s bedroom sounded in the distance. James scrambled towards the camera and stopped the video as soon as Harry’s angry voice rang through his room._

Teddy’s smile takes up his entire, tired face as he rushes to click on the next video.

***

The next morning, Teddy clambers out of his room. He spots James sitting at their new bar in front of an untouched plate of slightly crispy bacon, cinnamon toast, and a soft-boiled egg. James sits up suddenly and grins in Teddy’s direction, “You woke up! Good morning! I made a plate for you if you’re hungry.” He points excitedly at an identical plate sat at the bar next to him.

Teddy slowly walks towards the bar and slides onto the empty stool right next to James.

James picks up his toast and takes a big bite out of it. Teddy tenses as James examines his face, then uses his toast to point vaguely in Teddy’s direction, “You look tired.”

Teddy forces a grin and a nod before choosing a piece of bacon and nibbling on it, “Didn’t get a wink of sleep last night.”

“What, you think pulling an all-nighter's better than having to wake up early for my _magnificent_ breakfast?” Teddy tenses again under James’s gaze, who obviously notices right away, “Is...something wrong?”

Teddy immediately shakes his head, takes a big bite out of his bacon, and emphasizes a moan of delight, “Your breakfast is a gift to this world! I feel I am not worthy of its glorious--”

“No, Teddy...I can tell when something’s off.” James’s face is serious, and he’s even abandoned his toast.

Teddy places his hands, clenched, in his lap as James keeps a steady gaze on him, “I stayed up all night watching vlogs…”

James’s eyes widen with realization and Teddy prepares for disappointment, rage… “Really? Oh, Teddy, you don’t have to feel guilty about watching muggle vlogs - I watch them all the time! Who’s your favorite YouTuber?”

Teddy lets go of the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. James didn’t even suspect that Teddy stole his camera and watched all his private videos. Teddy could just go on without telling him, just say some names of muggle YouTubers that he heard James gush about in his vlogs.

But instead, Teddy sighs defeatedly and turns towards the food he suddenly doesn’t feel like eating.

Suddenly, James lets out a small giggle that made Teddy’s face heat, “Teddy! Why are you embarrassed? I watch vlogs too…” Teddy just keeps his gaze fixed on his steaming breakfast, and James sighs quietly, “Who’s your favorite vlogger?” His voice is quiet, which Teddy knows as James trying to tread lightly, “You know, Teddy, I’m always here for you no matter what community you may belong to…”

Slowly, James lifts his hand and carefully squeezes Teddy’s arm with a small grin. Tears suddenly begin to well in Teddy’s eyes. He didn’t deserve James’s compassion.

Teddy wordlessly slides out of the stool, ignoring James’s curious gaze. He walks briskly into his bedroom and quickly grabs the camera sitting at the end of his bed with no hesitation. As Teddy walks out of his bedroom, he can see James’s eyes fix on the bright blue camera in Teddy’s hand and widen in realization. Teddy stops a good distance away, lifts up the camera, and fixes his eyes on the thing to avoid James’s gaze.

“Teddy,” James breathes out. Teddy knew his nosiness would ruin their friendship. He knew he shouldn’t have watched those videos once he realized what they were. He knew he ruined his chances with James as soon as he stole the camera - he should have just discovered James’s feelings on his own. “How much did you watch…”

Teddy rips his gaze away from the camera and looks at James, whose face didn’t reflect hurt at all….just curiosity. “I-I’m sorry. I guess curiosity got the best of me and I know that isn’t an excuse...I don’t really have an excuse, I’m just...sorry?” Teddy breathes out in frustration and steps up to hand the camera back to a frozen James, then steps back for space.

James is just staring at him, and Teddy knows he’s done something wrong. Teddy rakes his fingers through his hair and dips his head towards the floor to avoid James’s gaze. He knows James is finding a way to tell Teddy to leave, to give him time to think, or to even just to start getting his stuff packed. No, Teddy would be the one to leave. This was his fault, after all. 

He looks back up to James and took in his expectant face. His expression is basically telling Teddy to leave. So, Teddy walks towards the door and grabs his keys, “I’ll give you some space--”

“Wait,” James grabs Teddy’s wrist as soon as his hand touches the doorknob. Teddy turns to look at James questioningly, “It’s okay, Teddy...how much did you watch?”

Images flash quickly in front of Teddy's eyes - of James giggling with his friends about stupid jokes, James’s wide eyes as he got in trouble with his parents countless times for the stupidest things, James’s excited rambling as he bragged about joining the Wynwood Dragons, James’s huge smile as he told the camera about him being in love with a certain Metamorphmagus best friend...

And now, James’s blue eyes so close to Teddy’s face, flicking up to Teddy’s hair and staying there, staring. Teddy looks away with heated cheeks, knowing that James was now staring at bright pink hair. 

Teddy didn’t even bother trying to change it.

“All of them,” Teddy whispered carefully, trying so hard not to scare James away. He looks back to James to monitor his reaction.

James’s breathing is almost ragged as his eyes linger on Teddy, no doubt trying to go through everything he’d said in every single vlog he’d made in those two years. After a while, James’s breathing slows and his eyes flick to Teddy’s hair once again, which turned back to its regular blue a few minutes prior but no doubt still had a strand or two of the betraying pink it had turned earlier.

James knew what the color meant. Teddy’s hair always gave away his overwhelming emotions. He knew pink meant love.

Finally, James opened his mouth and stuttered out a quiet, “I thought I’d lost my camera,” before carefully raising his hand to lightly stroke Teddy’s cheek. Teddy leaned into the touch and James’s lips twitched up in a small smile before leaning forward and hovering his lips over Teddy's. Both pause for a second, before Teddy shuts his eyes and closes the distance between them. The kiss barely lasts for five seconds, but it leaves Teddy's heart pumping loudly in his chest and his hair no doubt bright pink again.

When Teddy opens his eyes, James looks completely disheveled, although Teddy didn't even touch him other than their connected lips. There was a blush dusted across his freckled cheeks, which were completely crinkled with the biggest smile Teddy’s ever seen.

“For the record, I like the pink,” James says, before stepping back and lifting the camera quickly, which emitted a bright flash that left dots in Teddy’s eyes.

Teddy narrowed his eyes at James, “I prefer blue,” Before grabbing James’s face and snogging the life out of him.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this little ficlet for Jeddy Fest 2018 (jeddyfest.tumblr.com)! I came up with the idea because I'm obsessed with the YouTube series The Growing Pains of Harry Potter by NyxRising Industries, in which Harry basically vlogs his everyday endeavors. I thought the idea of combining the Wizarding World with something as Muggle as vlogging would be really fun to see with these Gen Z kids. Hope everyone enjoys it!


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